Unveiling the Underpinnings of Genocide (HGS 700)

3 credits

Genocide owes much of its perceived legitimacy to professionals who provide seemingly “reasonable” ideological, intellectual, scientific, religious, economic, and legal justifications for the destruction of a specific group. The Nazis’ use of eugenics as applied “science” is a prime example of such justifications in propaganda campaigns that convinced large segments of the population that genocide of allegedly inferior races was warranted and beneficial to society. Examples from selected case studies of other genocides (from Armenia to Bosnia) will also be examined in the effort to corroborate or expand the factors used to justify genocide.